January 2011

January 31, 2011

leaving the restaurant after our family lunch yesterday, my girls commented to me (with some surprise in their voices, I might add), "That man opened the door for all of us." "Yes," I replied, "he's a gentleman." I was delighted to hear those two precious words utter from their mouths to his ears . . .

"Thank you!"

Do we express our thanks often enough . . .even for the simplest yet oh so important acts of kindness?

Writing Thank You notes receives national attention from Katie Couric. In the age of e-mail, the handwritten thank you note is becoming a lost art.

Steve Hartman gets a lesson from a recognized expert -- and you could win a boxed note set of my Thank you cards - just (1) share your comment here: do you write thank you notes, and do you send them for occasions other than having received a gift; and (2)follow me on my facebook page

As part of the continuing series "Assignment America," Steve Hartman takes a lesson in the lost art of handwritten thank you notes.

Twis now a month after Christmas and all through my house Not a note has been written, does that make me a louse? Must I really send thanks for all the candles and cheeses Or that book from my in-laws about tracking animal feces?

Yes, at least according to my 1950 edition of Emily Post. But today, most of us don't live stationery lives. Thanks to our new paperless, manner-less society, the thank you note has been slowly going the way of the curtsy, and I say that's a good thing.

This is an issue "60 Minutes" Correspondent Byron Pitts and I have always been at odds over. He sends out thank you notes to the people he interviews, camera crews, you name it.

"There's something nice about the hand-written word, that people can feel it, can touch it, you know?" Pitts asked.

It's Boy Scouts like Pitts who make the rest of us look bad, but this guy says writing thank yous can actually make you feel good, really good.

It all started three years ago, Kralik said. His life was really going down the tubes, personally and professionally, when one day, while walking, he heard an inner voice telling him to start writing thank you notes.

"I wasn't that grateful of a person," said Kralik. "I wasn't noticing the good things that happened to me each day. I wasn't noticing the good people I was encountering every day."

People like his daughter's piano teacher or the woman who cuts his hair, even the woman at Starbucks, who he thanked just for making the effort to remember his name.

"'In a way that makes me feel like a person and not a number; thank you, John,'" the barista read from Kralik's note. "It just made me realize that what I do does count."

In total, John wrote 365 notes that year and now has written a book about how it supposedly changed his fortune.

"When you appreciate something, it comes again," said Kralik. "If I was thankful for clients paying their bills, they seemed to pay faster. If I was thankful for cases, they seemed to come more."

That made sense. So I decided to give it a try and asked Pitts for help. I mean, where do you even start?

"Maybe, 'I hope this note finds you well,'" Pitts said.

Turns out, you open with a broad greeting and close with a broad greeting. I did mail it, and it went over well.

"Steve, I got your note," my father-in-law said in a voicemail. "That was nice."

Although I should probably get my own stationery.

"I was a little curious because there was an ending Brian, Byron Pitts," my father-in-law said. "But, anyway, thanks."

For the record, apparently I'm not the only one at CBS who's been lax with the thank yous.

January 28, 2011

I watched with empathy, and enthusiasm as each participant auditioned (in Milwaukee ) for American Idol. With empathy, because the auditions took me back to my 20's and early 30's when I was single and earning my living as a legal secretary but pursuing my dream to be a working actor, regulary auditioning for commercials, small parts, plays, and theater troups. I held a deep passion for the art of acting, and did it well, but, I didn't audition very well. The anticipation of being called for an audition, and leading up to my entering the room standing before the casting director, cameraman, or whomever else, oh how my body filled with a bundle of butterflies and shivered and shook like a leaf blowing in the Santa Ana winds - one time, so much so, I couldn't even hold my script still enough to read it. Another time, reading with another actor, I was to read the part (off camera) of the director. Out of me came this manufactured, deep, rather awkward director-ish sounding voice of authority, to which I startled not only myself, but the other actor, and the crew...but committment, baby, it's all about comittment...so I went with it. Needless to say I didn't get that part, and I think I really pissed off the actor I was reading with. I can laugh about it all now, but then, getting the part was everything to me . . .my golden ticket out of my opressed redundant work-world of being a legal secretary. I held (tightly, I might add) to the belief that becoming a working actor was thee only way out for me. I had nothing else to draw upon - no pun intended. So, I empathized last night as those who were turned away cried because they were leaving without their golden ticket, likely believing this was the only way to realize their dream.

Do you have a dream? Do you beieve there is only one way to follow your dreams and to live them?

I once believed acting was my only golden ticket.

Well, fast forward a decade in my life, during which I married and became a mom - I knew I would be needing to return to work at some point and with acting now not an option, neither was returning to an office in any capacity. I knew I wanted to be home, raising my girls, but, living in Los Angeles, as is the case for many, two (if not more) incomes are needed. So, as I cared for my two little ladybugs, knowing a return to some kind of work was imminent, I allowed my creative mind to go to work, and my intuition to guide & prepare me to re-enter the work world.

I like to think of myself/my work, and my professional journey (I am paraphrasing from conversation with my dear friend Aaron Christensen and the awesomness of his thought process) as a slow burning star, one that is contant, one that will brighten your darkened day (or night) and will always be here when you look for it - a constant. My creative journey began about 8 years ago, as I designed pieces for my own home (the result of a modest single income family). This grew into gaining the confidence to show my work to local retailers, a couple of whom agreed to sell a few of my pieces, and others who told me, "oh we only buy from (trade) shows"

in one of thee absolutely best showrooms retailers can buy from (psst. - get in touch with me and I'll tell you how to make your wholesale purchases for your store!)

Pinch me - please

I am honored,

I am proud, and

I am humbled.

I have made good choices, I have made bad choices, I have been thru fire and flood (literally) and copyright infringement, I have learned (and continue to) learn lessons about life, and about the licensing industry, and I have learned that life is what happens when you're busy making plans.

I learned to keep moving. I kept moving forward in spite of it all. Some days I took three steps forward, some days I stepped backwards, or only stepped in place, keeping time.

BUT, I kept moving.

The butterflies I experience now are the precious, sweet fluttery kind that remind me

I trusted my past and all its odds against my reaching this place in time

I trusted my intuition

I trusted my creative ability

I trusted the process and my personal the journey

I have a very trustworthy team (this is a team effort every step of the way)

and

I trust the future.

With enthusiasm, and tears not only in my eyes, but also my 13 year old daughter's eyes, we listened to Chris Medina's story and watched his AMAZING audition. He's got my vote already. I am deeply moved by Chris's story - he's moving forward too, in spite of it all.

Persistance

Patience

Determination

Hope

Faith

and a single seed to plant a dream

water the seed

give it love

give it sunshine

give it time

and it will sprout

from it, you can then plant more seeds to love, to water, to lavish sunshine upon.

Do you have a dream? Is there something you are allowing to keep you from nurtuing your dream? Is it the right dream - that is, when you are taking steps toward realizing your dream, do you get the good fluttery butterflies informing you that you are on the path designed especially for you?

Give yourself a couple minutes to write down just one dream and under it, three steps you can take toward realizing that dream. It all begins with just one step.

January 09, 2011

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January 07, 2011

Hello beautiful readers - are you finding joy in your 2011? My family and I welcomed the new year enjoying a truly magical three days inside the happiest place on earth - what a blessing to leave everything behind and spend this time fully present with my husband and our daughters. Cotton candy, roller coasters, Pirates of the Caribbean, and It's a Small World - and a breathtaking World of Color. Simple Gifts, simple pleasures to care for the soul and to care for one another.

I want to take time each Friday in this new year to feature some one, some place, a retailer, a reader whom I've visited and share their goodness with you. Today, help me welcomenada farmlife

a magical place in its own right

"It was as if God Himself whispered His sweetness on the farm

a dense fog surrounded our property, and beyond the woods you couldn't see...

beyond the prairie was mystery

beyond anything any one of us could ever do

I quickly baked the cake, but had an idea to put it in the winter-storybook-like woods

January 04, 2011

As we step in to 2011, I am finding myself rather contemplative. I haven't considerable free time with which to ponder, but, I do my best to make it a priority to find minutes within my waking hours to quiet the chatter in my mind, to read a selection of pages in a given book, or to journal my thoughts. With our busy, demanding schedules do you allow yourself time to think, time to feel, time consider where you are and are you living the life you want?

There is a wonderfully inspiring blog I visit now and again - and for the life of me, this morning I could not recall its name or link - from the time my girls were old enough to understand, I have taught them the first thing to do when you feel overwhelmed, or lost is to stop, and breath deep so you may think clearly - so, as I sat snuggled warmly on the sofa in my studio, reading, contemplating, and experiencing frustration with early onset of memory loss unable to recall the name of this lovely blog, I breathed in, breathed out, breathed in, breathed out, knowing, patiently waiting, trusting what I needed would come to me - and it did!

A Beautiful Ripple Effect and Carolyn Rubenstein always touch on so many heart levels. Today's heart-touch is about creating community. I believe we are created to need community, our hearts seek connection, we have a need to be loved, to have someone be present with us, to be acknowledged as making a difference, to know and to feel peace and satisfaction. Do you feel this is so? I'll be the first to profess I yearn for personal connection - it's my human nature (and nurture for that matter).

We are on a life journey together, seeking to create the life we each want, our souls reaching toward one another in one way or another seeking fulfillment of connection. As I continue in my life journey

this year . . .

I shall as many times as is required

Let Go of all of the Past

and Intend to Travel Lightly

(it is gone, it is done, it is over)

I've never cared for reruns any way, so why spend valuable, precious time rerunning the past in my mind.